Sutro Biopharma Appoints Edward C. Albini as Chief Financial Officer

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Sutro Biopharma, a biopharmaceutical company developing a new generation of protein therapeutics utilizing Sutro's cell-free protein synthesis technology, today announced the expansion of its senior management team with the appointment of Edward C. Albini as chief financial officer. Mr. Albini has more than 25 years of life science industry experience, including more than 14 years in various financial management positions at Genentech.

"Ed joins Sutro at a very exciting time as we continue to advance our own pipeline and to collaborate with pharmaceutical and biotech companies utilizing our novel, cell-free approach for the design, development and manufacturing of next-generation antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) and bispecific antibodies," said William Newell, chief executive officer of Sutro Biopharma. "He brings a tremendous skill set and depth of experience that will provide us with important insight and direction at this important stage for our company."

Mr. Albini joins Sutro from Itero Biopharmaceuticals, a company focusing on the development and commercialization of protein therapeutics, where he was chief financial officer. Prior to joining Itero, he was chief financial officer at Novacea, where he was responsible for oversight and management of all financial activities, including debt and equity financings, strategic financial evaluation, financial planning and investor relations. Earlier, Mr. Albini was the chief financial officer of Lynx Therapeutics, where he led equity and debt offerings and negotiated revenue-bearing agreements for the company. He worked for more than 14 years in various financial management positions at Genentech, including director of finance for international operations and director of financial planning and analysis. Mr. Albini holds a master's in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor's degree in accounting from Santa Clara University. He is a certified public accountant.

About Sutro Biopharma

Sutro Biopharma, located in South San Francisco, has developed a cell-free biochemical protein synthesis platform that enables the rapid design, engineering, testing and scalable production of novel proteins, including those containing site-specific modifications and non-natural amino acids. Sutro's platform allows the rapid and systematic exploration of many protein variants to identify drug and vaccine candidates. Once product candidates are identified, production can be rapidly and predictably scaled up to commercial levels. Sutro has established a Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) facility for the production of clinical supplies of materials using its biochemical protein synthesis platform. Using this platform, Sutro is collaborating with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, including Celgene, Pfizer and Sanofi Pasteur, to discover and develop novel vaccines, peptide-based therapeutics, antibody drug conjugates and bifunctional antibodies to meet unmet medical needs. These products will significantly extend the clinical impact of current approaches and are beyond what can be envisioned with current cell-based expression technologies. For more information, visit www.sutrobio.com.